Ekiti Guber Poll: APC Jubilates As Tribunal Upholds Fayemi’s Victory

Members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ekiti State on Monday trooped to the streets of Ado Ekiti, the state capital, as the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja upheld the victory of Governor Kayode Fayemi.

The broom-wielding party members danced from Odo Ado area to the government house and ended their procession at the party’s secretariat in Ajilosun area of the capital city.

The Tribunal, in its judgement delivered by Justice Suleiman Belgore, said Fayemi was validly elected in the July 14, 2018 Governorship election, contrary to the position canvassed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Prof Kolapo Olusola.

Fayemi polled a total of 197,459 to defeat Olusola , who scored total votes of 178, 022 to emerge a runner-up.

The Tribunal began sitting in Ekiti last year August before it relocated to Abuja citing cases of insecurity in the state.

The APC members, who started their jubilation from Odo Ado, a section of Ado Ekiti metropolis were led by a House of Representatives candidate in Ekiti Central federal constituency I, Hon Sola Fatoba and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Mobilisation, Hon Tunji Ogunlola.

Ogunlola, while addressing the crowd said Fayemi worked very hard to win the election and that the judgement had confirmed the position of
the party.

They danced to the music being supplied by a popular musician in Ekiti and the long convoy of vehicles caused traffic logjam along Ado-Ikere-Akure road.

Meanwhile, the APC had described the victory as expected, saying the party perpetrated no electoral heist in the election to warrant the nullification of its outcome.

The State Deputy Chairman of the party, Hon Sola Elesin said: “We are happy over the outcome of the election, but we are not in any way surprised, because the transparent election was held in the July 14 governorship election.

“It was clear that Governor Fayemi won fair and square, so we are not afraid even if they want to appeal the judgement, we are ready for them because we have no skeleton in our cupboard. There were no cases of electoral malpractices”.

On the allegation that the shake-up in the judiciary regarding the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria(CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen was part of the alleged plot by APC to win at the Tribunal, Elesin said: “They only wanted to damage the reputation of the judiciary.

“We had won two litigations since Fayemi came on board. He was taken to the court on his eligibility to contest the APC governorship primary and he won. He was taken to the Election Petition Tribunal, he also came out victorious.

“We will continue to win because we have no skeleton in our cupboard”, he said.

However, the PDP candidate in the governorship election and petitioner in the case, Prof Olusola, said the party will appeal the judgement.

Olusola, who spoke through the Director of Media of his campaign organization, Lere Olayinka said: “That is not the last bus stop as regards the election petition Tribunal.

“The law is very clear regarding the hierarchies of courts we can approach to seek redress on this issue. We are surely going to appeal the judgement”, Olusola said.